For he will hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will lift me high upon a rock.
The above lines are from a song of King David. As we read them we might do well to also read these lines from another song of David’s:
Psalms 91:1-4 (ESV)
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
The thought that God protects those who seek shelter under his care is a predominant theme throughout the Psalms, as well as Scripture as a whole. The Hebrew word for shelter in the above passage is only used four times in the Old Testament, three of them in the Psalms. In the other uses it is translated to English as thicket, abode and lair. In two of them it refers to God’s shelter as in the above and in the other two it is used in a negative manner. For those who trust in God we have this positive picture of a place we run to when trouble comes. When we see a storm on the horizon we run for cover. Depending on our spiritual disposition we either run for cover we have built and trust in, or we run for cover God provides. God’s is better. In the second line of the above verse we read that the shelter in the first line is compared to as the cover of his tent, in the second AND to being lifted upon a rock. So the lines build in meaning for us. Yes, God provides a shelter for us, but David explains that it is a cover over us and a rock below us. We have a place where we are concealed from the storm, danger or dilemma. God hides us in the shelter and conceals us under his tent. When trouble comes to the believer in this life the believer is not removed from the trouble. Instead God simply promises to tuck us away somewhere secure, in His faithfulness, until the trouble has passed. Let us rejoice in the shelter He provides, as it is secure and sure. The shelter we run to in this life tells us a lot about our spiritual condition. David recognizes that the only true place to hide in trouble is in the shelter of God.
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